Four Detroit Tigers Who Could Lose 40-Man Roster Spots Soon

Detroit Tigers 40-man Roster Cut No. 1 – Christin Stewart

The Detroit Tigers used a first-round pick (34th overall) to draft Christin Stewart in 2015. That was about a round higher than the industry expected him to land, but there was no denying the enticing part of his game: power. Stewart set records for home run production in high school, he posted a career .962 OPS at the University of Tennessee, and he performed well in the Cape Cod League and with the Collegiate National Team. For four years he looked like a good draft choice. He was a borderline Top-100 prospect who consistently hit about .260 with a double-digit walk rate and 25 home runs each year in the minors. But he just hasn’t performed in parts of three seasons in the big-leagues. He’s a career .225/.300/.376 hitter in 157 MLB games — roughly 25% below league average on offense — and he grades out as one of the worst defensive outfielders in baseball. The Detroit Tigers signed two outfielders in the off season, it sure looks like Akil Baddoo is going to make the team, and Christin Stewart was a pretty early cut this spring. He is now 27, and barring a miraculous, J.D. Martinez-style turnaround, it looks like the writing is on the wall.